PSPad 5.5.3 Adds SFTP, Markdown Preview and PowerShell Support for Windows

What PSPad is, briefly​

PSPad is a freeware editor for Windows. It sits between Notepad and a full IDE, and it has been doing so for a long time. It covers syntax highlighting, projects, a hex editor, macros, an FTP client, text diffing and HTML tools. MajorGeeks lists the 5.5.3.895 build as freeware for Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7. The release is available as installers and ZIP packages in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. SourceForge's file listing shows files dated 2026-11-02 for the 32-bit and 64-bit setups and ZIPs, with sizes of roughly 11 to 13 MB.

SFTP finally arrives​

This is the change most likely to matter to working developers. Until now, PSPad users who wanted secure transfers were told to use FTPS. In a January 2024 forum reply, a PSPad developer said the editor did not support SFTP yet and pointed users to FTPS. The reason given was that SFTP is internally different from FTP or FTPS, so a whole SFTP access layer had to be programmed.

That layer now exists. The official history says SFTP support is added, and you choose FTP/FTPS or SFTP in the FTP connection settings. According to the changelog as relayed by Neowin, the FTP communication library no longer depends on OpenSSL and uses CryptLib instead. Per the official notes, you should delete the old libcrypto*.dll and libssl*.dll files and then test your saved FTP connections. I could not open the full official entry myself, so treat that cleanup advice as coming from the changelog's own wording. Two things are worth keeping apart:

• The SFTP option is new protocol support.
• The OpenSSL-to-CryptLib swap is a library change underneath FTP. The updater also dropped its own OpenSSL dependency, which is a separate change.

The changelog does not describe this as a security fix. Do not read it as a vulnerability patch.

Settings, backups and startup​

Several changes affect how an existing setup behaves:

• Backups: A new backup style, file.ext.date-time, keeps 10 versions. Backing up into a designated folder is now separate from the backup style. The changelog does not say whether the 10-version limit applies per file or globally, so check before relying on it.
• User profile storage: If PSPad is installed in a protected folder such as Program Files, changed color schemes, scripts and syntax definitions are stored in %appdata%\PSpad. Files there load with higher priority than the defaults. This is sensible for non-admin users. It also means customizations may now live somewhere you are not used to looking.
• Startup speed: Syntax highlighters are created on demand rather than all at launch.
• New variable: %ProjectRoot% holds the project's default directory.
• Localization: On first run, PSPad should pick the language matching Windows' primary language.

Language and editor additions​

• PowerShell and Go get new internal highlighters with code folding and a code parser. A Dockerfile user highlighter definition is also added.
• Markdown gets highlighting, with an HTML preview on F10 from the HTML menu.
• A minimap can be switched on from the View menu.
• Autocomplete now suggests after two characters, never rewrites your text on its own, and shows the list even when there is only one match.
• Keywords were updated for Pascal, SQL (MS SQL and Oracle), C#, Java, PHP, JavaScript and HTML.
• Sort profiles can be saved and loaded. Join Lines and Split Lines accept a custom delimiter, where \t means a real tab.
• The Pascal Code Explorer jumps straight to implementations, and there is a new Copy Path to Clipboard command.
• Selected-text occurrences are highlighted in both panes of split-window mode.

The 64-bit build also gets IDE-style support and new styles. The notes do not say what those styles are, so don't assume the 32-bit and 64-bit builds are now identical.

Windows integration and previews​

• Explorer context menu: There is a new button under Program settings / System integration to re-register the Windows context-menu integration. The changelog also documents a manual procedure for Windows 11 26H2. Per the notes relayed to us, you switch to Registry integration and apply, replace pspShellx64.dll with the one from the ZIP, then switch back to DLL registration and confirm. That is a workaround, not a one-click fix. It also does not amount to a broad Windows 11 26H2 compatibility statement.
• HTML preview: Microsoft Edge WebView is now the default for HTML previews. This affects only PSPad's preview pane, not your system browser.

The AI angle​

Two AI-related items appear in this release. The first is documentation: new highlighter specifications and scripting docs in a Docs subfolder. You attach these to a prompt and ask an AI model to draft a custom syntax definition or script. The second is a "ChatGPT inside PSPad" entry. Neowin's feature list also mentions ChatGPT access. The official history does not spell out account, API key or service requirements for this build. I can't tell you how that integration is set up or what it costs, so check the editor's settings before assuming anything.

Should you update?​

There is no reported security incident or forced upgrade here. For most existing users it is an ordinary feature release.

1. Back up your PSPad settings and any custom highlighters or scripts first.
2. Install over the existing copy, or use the ZIP if you prefer a portable setup.
3. If you use FTP, delete the old OpenSSL DLLs as the changelog instructs, then test each saved connection. Try SFTP if your servers need it.
4. If PSPad lives under Program Files, look in %appdata%\PSpad for your changed files.
5. On Windows 11 26H2, use the documented context-menu steps if the Explorer entry misbehaves.

The version situation is slightly messy. A Japanese software tracker showed some confusion between a 5.5.3 developer build (891) and the final 895. PSPad's download page lists developer build 5.5.3 (891) separately. Make sure you are on the full 895 build. Also be aware that some third-party sites still show older version numbers, which is stale data rather than a newer release.

Bottom line​

PSPad 5.5.3 is a practical release. SFTP closes a gap that has pushed some users to other editors for remote work. Markdown, PowerShell and Go support round out the language list. The profile-folder change makes it friendlier on locked-down machines. Whether the AI additions earn a place in your workflow depends on details the changelog does not give. The rest of the release is a long list of fixes for tabs, word wrap, search and replace, macros and rendering.